Tracking open data progress and growth opportunities requires a time-intensive initial survey, and the maintenance of portals is even more involved. A recent ODI Toronto presentation and visualization report, Mid-Size Visual Insight illustrates mid-size cities known to have open data initiatives, and is derived from merging community and Open Canada data.

Open Canada is the national government site on open data, which includes a page that tracks open government across Canada. However, a recent survey in the report highlights the need for an update and recommends a collaborative community plan to maintain this information as a central source.

In June 2018, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat team, who manages the site, promptly responded to the recommendation request via email. The team’s proposed solution is to repair the broken URL links for existing content, which will improve usability. The collaborative plan to include a more comprehensive list of current national open data initiatives, and possibly confirm unknown cities and towns, is unclear. However, the team is eager to explore the possibilities in the future.

As a main national hub for open data initiatives, particularly open government progress, it is important to maintain national authorities as reliable accurate resources. However, databases require planning, innovation and collaborative stewardship.

The door is open to leave a comment to improve our national open data authority.